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Beautiful post, have been thinking about this for years and bring this into classes. Students recognise it. In our modern world, we pride ourselves on 'creating family' out of non-related people (FRIENDS' effect)--but that break down of family and breakdown in understanding of what friendships mean (friending is not the same as being friends)--leads to disoriented people who are constantly in survival mode. And because they cannot place themselves in society, cannot find their own place, they find it hard to relate to each other. Repetitive cycle...we need to focus more on staying in one place, for long, developing communities and neighbourhoods for long term stable connections and a collective ownership of a 'place.' Thanks SO MUCH, for voicing this.

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that building and knitting the social fabric connecting your students is as important as the material you teach

Been doing this....in many ways, in-class assignments and field trips. But the fact of the matter is....more and more in academia, teaching and creating conducive situations for putting energy into teaching --is secondary to some other aspects.

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nothing healthy will emerge from the next social explosion in the US, it's already happening, there's more people living in sidewalks than in buildings of those sidewalks, the social contract was broken by Clinton and the fabric of society who was the middle class, disappeared.

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